Player Ratings to the Theme of Old School Donruss Diamond Kings Art

Rating the individual performances of Kansas Jayhawks players after winning the Big XII Tournament

Kansas is your Big XII regular season and Big XII Tournament champion.  You might say that they are the kings of the conference.

Just in case you're new to these player ratings (or just need a refresher on how they work), here's how the evaluation process happens. First, I choose a subject and rank things according to my preferences. Your preferences will no doubt vary, but that's part of the fun. Then I assign a player to each star rating based on performance, but please note that not all games and not all ratings are equal. It's not completely stats based, but of course stats play a large role in how a player stacks up to others in a particular game.

5 Stars: Out of this world performance. This is a hard to achieve rating and is only reserved for the most impressive or impressionable performances.

4.5 Stars: Very strong performance, packed the stat sheet, provided undeniable intangibles.

4 Stars: A strong performance that falls just short of the standards above.

3.5 Stars: Above average performance, perhaps stands out in one category or one aspect of the game.

3 Stars: Average performance. Also could be a very strong game in one aspect but a very poor game in another such as 15 points but seven turnovers.

2 Stars: Below average performance, or we simply have higher expectations for the player on this particular night.

1 Star: Rare, but if a player has a stinker in all aspects.

Memorial No Star: Named after a former KU walk-on or obscure player and is awarded to the player(s) who didn't have enough playing time to contribute or whose performance isn't worthy of a rating for another reason.

Anyway, I was recently looking at a thread of baseball cards on Twitter for some reason, and suddenly remembered Donruss Diamond Kings. As an avid collector of baseball cards in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I got excited each year to see who Donruss decided to grace with Diamond King status. Although I have no idea the criteria, I just really liked the aesthetic of these cards as they commissioned some artist to do paintings of the players. Anyway, I searched far and wide (a 15 minute google image search did the trick) and found some absolute gems in there. Here are your ratings to these 1980s and 1990s pieces of nostalgia.

5 Stars:

Don Sutton

I love how his hair kind of obscures the in-action tiny little pitching Sutton. Is that his arm or part of his ear? This has to be the pinnacle of Diamond Kings art right here. hang it in the Louvre.

Unfortunately, no one was as amazing as this piece of art. 

4.5 Stars

Rollie Fingers

You can’t talk amazing 1980s baseball anything without mention of Rollie Fingers and that sweet handlebar mustache. All these faux hipsters with their silly facial hair need to just cut it out. Peak awesomeness was achieved in 1986.

David McCormack did work against Texas Tech. He was getting mauled all game and fought through that as well as a bum foot. I've given Dave a lot of crap on this space and others, but man, he was nails for KU on Saturday. Finished with 18 and 11.

12 points, four assists, three steals, four rebounds, zero turnovers. Remy Martin was excellent.

4 Stars:

Bo Jackson and Ken Griffey Jr

It’s Bo Jackson for Pete’s sake. The same can be said for Junior. But the artist didn’t really get the hats right did they? And anyway, Ken Griffey Jr should have his hat on backwards.

Ochai Agbaji was solid four star in this one. The KC senior finished with 16 points and seven boards.

If Jalen Wilson could've done in the first half what he did in the second, he'd have been a five star. But, he still had a great second half that helped propel KU to the title. Finished the game with 12 points and 5 rebounds.

Christian Braun did a lot of damage at the line as he made eight of nine from the charity stripe. Wish he'd take a few more of those open threes.

3.5 Stars

Gary Gaetti

I love Gary Gaetti and that is why he is rated as a 3.5 star. He was also vastly underrated as a player and had an amazing season with the Royals in 1995 when he had 35 dongs. Plus, that guy was so good on the original RBI Baseball for the NES. I won lots of games because of Gary.

3 Stars:

Tony Armas

Fun fact: Tony Armas is the only player I can recall whose name is four different body parts. For that alone, he is a Diamond King.

Dajuan Harris and Mitch Lightfoot both played less than expected due to injury. They are three stars based on that.

2 Stars:

Jose Canseco and Chris Sabo

What is going on with the art here? This doesn’t look like Jose Canseco at all, and Sabo’s signature rec specs look pretty dumb rendered in acrylic.

No one was a two.

1 Star:

Jerry Koosman

First of all, I’ve never heard of this guy. Second, that is a picture of Wayne Gretzky in a Phillies hat.

Michael Jankovich Memorial No Star:

Today's no star is in honor of a current player, the first time it has happened.  We might not see any more of MJ this season.

Joseph Yesufu, KJ Adams, and Jalen Coleman-Lands find their way here.